Susie Kahlich
Jul 24, 2017 · 2 min read

One of the things I have never liked about the English language is the lack of distinction between the familiar pronoun “you” and the formal “You.” We used to have it, using “thou” for the familiar and “you” for the formal, but by the 19th century only “you,” functioning for both purposes (as well as plural), was the standardized form.

Unlike in the romance languages or in German, where there are separate words for the familiar and formal “you.” (This may occur in other languages as well, but as I am only personally familiar with Spanish, Italian, French and German, I’ll stick to what I know as an example.) I prefer it, frankly; I appreciate the use of “Vous” in French, for example, or “Ihr/e” in German, to remind not only the listener but also the speaker that they are, in fact, speaking to a complete stranger which, in my opinion, functions as an excellent barrier against unnecessary insults. Obviously, the French and the Germans (and the Italians and Spanish) insult strangers and people they are only on formal terms with, but the type of insults they use for each pronoun differs wildly. I wouldn’t say directly to Angela Merkel, for example, Sie sind verrückt because I would literally have to know her personally in order to make that statement. However, if a stranger aggressively propositions me on the street, and I wanted to be especially demeaning and dismissive, then I might say du bist verrückt to shut them down.

I didn’t read your very long and aggressive response this comment thread, because I didn’t get past your opening line, “Are you crazy?” This tells me right away that you are not interested in a dialog or even a debate; rather, that you are the type of person who needs to destabilize others by first demeaning them and dismissing their views, and then hammering home how intelligent you are, supported by a bunch of $10 words. When a complete stranger begins a comment or any conversation with me with “Are you crazy?”, it makes me instantly uninterested in anything they have to say.

But thank you for taking the time to comment — such a valuable commodity that should never be wasted; I appreciate the generous donation of yours in this thread.

    Susie Kahlich

    Written by

    Producer and host of the bi-monthly podcast, Artipoeus: Art You Can Hear, and founder of Pretty Deadly Self Defense. www.artipoeus.com / www.prettydeadly.org